CVE-2017-6138 Denial of service in BIG-IP LTM, AAM, AFM, Analytics, APM, ASM, DNS, GTM, Link Controller, PEM, WebSafe

High 7.5 Published 21 Dec 2017 Updated 17 Sep 2024

Malicious HTTP requests can cause the Traffic Management Microkernel to restart, resulting in a denial of service for F5 BIG-IP users.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2017-6138?

CVE-2017-6138 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, published on 21 Dec 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In F5 BIG-IP LTM, AAM, AFM, Analytics, APM, ASM, DNS, GTM, Link Controller, PEM and WebSafe software version 13.0.0 and 12.1.0 - 12.1.2, malicious requests made to virtual servers with an HTTP profile can cause the TMM to restart. The issue is exposed with BIG-IP APM profiles, regardless of settings. The issue is also exposed with the non-default "normalize URI" configuration options used in iRules and/or BIG-IP LTM policies.

Weakness: CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-6138?

It affects 11 products.

Products include F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager, F5 Big-Ip Analytics, F5 Big-Ip Application Acceleration Manager, F5 Big-Ip Application Security Manager, F5 Big-Ip Dns and 5 more.

How do I fix CVE-2017-6138?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-6138 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2017-6138 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-6138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-mgm7-38vm-9xw5.